Highlights from “Behind the Scenes: Panel on the Careers that Make the Art World Go Round”

November 07, 2013

By Nicole Greenstein C’14

Penn Law students got a “behind the scenes” glimpse of the art industry on Nov. 5, when Penn Law in the Arts hosted a panel discussion featuring distinguished speakers who deal with the legal and business issues facing the art industry.

Participants in “Behind the Scenes: Panel on Careers that Make the Art World Go Round” included Larry Berger, the General Counsel and Secretary at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Seth Stuhl L’97, the Director of Legal and Business Affairs at Disney Theatrical Group; and Robert Dance, a private art dealer in New York. Donald Millinger L’79, the co-founder of an international cultural consulting company, moderated the all-star panel.

With such a diverse range of panelists, the conversation covered many different facets of the art industry. Stuhl spoke about his work on a production of The Lion King in South Africa, while Dance discussed his responsibility to make sure a Leonardo da Vinci painting is authentic before its appraisal. But Stuhl noted that despite their different career paths, all four panelists shared something important in common — they followed their passion.

“All of us ended up where we are, because even if we were pursuing something else — something we thought might be more serious, like litigation — we all stayed true to what we loved, and it led to opportunities,” said Stuhl. “Frankly there are a lot of lessons there to be learned about really loving something and staying involved somehow.”

For Luis Andrés Camacho LLM’14, the panel offered valuable advice about how to apply his legal skills in the art industry.

“This panel gives us the opportunity to speak with people who are in places that I would like to be in the future,” said Camacho. “It’s sort of like an informal mentorship of how to get there eventually.”

“We all followed our passion to an extent..we all stayed true to what we loved, and it led to opportunities.” -Mr. Stuhl,@PennLaw Arts Panel